Ocean Frontiers: The Filmmakers Perspective

People always ask us, “What project are you working on now?” For the past three years, the response has been Ocean Frontiers. Over the 4th of July, Ralf and I visited with friends we haven’t seen much in the past five months since we’ve been touring with Ocean Frontiers. They wanted to hear all about it – where the film has premiered, how audiences are responding to it, and do we feel we are meeting our goals?

Like the stories told in Ocean Frontiers, the story about the film and the outreach around it are equally positive. Together with 300+ partners across the country and around the world, we have hosted more than 100 premieres and screenings where audiences are left with hope and and inspired to move forward—from the kick-off with Oregon Governor Kitzhaber and First Lady Hayes in Oregon to the Boston premiere where 400 people filled the IMAX theater, to one of the most recent premieres in Boulder, Colorado where people gathered to learn how they can help protect the ocean from a mile high and the middle of the country!

On July 26 we are bringingOcean Frontiers to the nation’s capital with our distinguished hosts including the American Association of Port Authorities, Gulf of Mexico Alliance, Joint Ocean Commission Initiative, Coastal States Organization, Massachusetts Port Authority, Blue Frontier Campaign and Port Orford Ocean Resource Team. Check it out and please join us if you will be in the area.

We are honored that members of Congress, state legislators, and local elected leaders such as mayors, and county and port commissioners regularly join us at Ocean Frontiers events and go on to share the film with their colleagues and constituents. Coastal planners on the East coast, the Pacific coast and now in Texas are using the film to inform and inspire their colleagues to reach for new heights with ocean planning, to bring in stakeholders and to use the best available science to inform their decisions.

Most heartening are the comments we hear from all of you—and it doesn’t seem to matter whether you are a port director, a Congressional staffer, a commercial fisherman or a college student who ended up attending an event because your roommate was going—people come away with a new sense of hope that we can work together and find solutions that benefit our coastal economies and the ocean.

Our goal at the onset of producing Ocean Frontiers was to share the ocean conservation success stories that are unfolding across the country so that we could all learn from these ocean pioneers and begin replicating their successful approaches in our own communities. Together with all of you we are moving in a positive direction. We are educating ourselves about what works and incorporating the lessons learned as we move forward with ecosystem-based ocean planning.

More than a film, Ocean Frontiers is a campaign designed to inspire people to get involved in ocean protection, from national policy to local beach clean-ups. You can get started on hosting a screening or share the film with your friends via Facebook or Twitter. Or just send them to the website, there’s lots of great clips from the film and extras to check out!